mai

Forms

mai m (plural mais)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French mai, inherited from Latin Māius (“of May, May”) (with mēnsis (“month”) understood), the month of Māia, an Italic goddess, daughter of Faunus and wife of Vulcan, later identified with the Maia of the Greeks, the mother of Hermes.^[2][3][4][5] Rey notes that the names may be related to magnus (“great”), as the Romans themselves had observed.^[3][6]

Cognate with Italian maggio, Occitan mai, Spanish mayo and Walloon maie.^[6] The Latin name was also borrowed by the Germanic languages and by Irish, as in German Mai and English May.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100): Ço est en mai, al premer jur d'ested, “it is in May, on the first day of summer”.^[2][6][3]

Semantic evolution

In Old French the name of the month was also used for the green branches that grow in May (late 12th century), and later for the young tree planted on the first of May before the door of someone to be honoured (16th century); hence planter le mai à quelqu'un, to fête or spoil someone, also ironically (1532).^[2][3][7] As the finest month of the year, May stood for spring in bloom (about 1200) and was set against February, the symbol of winter (about 1210); avoir bon mai meant to be happy and prosperous (about 1220).^[2][3] These uses declined, except in dialects, as the customs disappeared.^[3]

The joli mois de mai is recorded in 1690, and in Catholic usage May is the month of the Virgin Mary (1690, Furetière).^[3][8] Le premier mai became Labour Day in the 20th century, and Mai or Mai 68 refers to the unrest of May 1968.^[8][3][9]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – En mai in the Chanson de Roland.^[2]
• Late 12th century – Green branches gathered in May, in the Moniage Guillaume.^[2]
• c. 1200 – May as the symbol of spring, in the Châtelain de Coucy.^[2]
• c. 1220 – Avoir bon mai, in Jean Renart.^[2]
• 1532 – Planter le may “to fête someone”.^[2]
• 1690 – The month of the Virgin, in Furetière.^[8]
• 1969 – Used of the events of May 1968.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. May, the fifth month of the year, with 31 days: le joli mois de mai, le Premier Mai, Labour Day.^[9][1][2]
2. Mai 68, Mai: the student and workers' revolt of May 1968 in France.^[9][3]
3. (historical) A mai, arbre de mai: a maypole or young tree planted on the first of May before someone's door in their honour.^[9][3]

Related words

• majeur
• Latin Māius

Usage notes

Littré records the proverb en avril, n'ôte pas un fil; en mai, fais ce qu'il te plaît, about clothing in spring.^[6][9] La mi-mai is the middle of May.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/1, 61a
6. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert